Sedum and Semps

Certain plants disappear for me for most of the year -- there's just nothing remarkable about them, or perhaps they get overshadowed by other things.

But at certain times of the year, they are beacons to me. I am the moth and they are the flame. They are sedum and sempervivum.

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The sedum take the heat of summer fairly well, but really shine in the late winter. Quite nice right now too:

It must be the changing colors that attracts me at certain times, as these Sedum 'Angelina' get vibrant with cold weather, then will really orange up in the early spring.

'Blue spruce' sedum looking good too:

I especially like the boundaries where the different sedums mix, or where they mix with other plants:

Even though this hot, dry summer beat some of my sedum back to very small barely surviving plants, I still have several different varieties not shown here today. I didn't walk around to get photos of them all because I was distracted by the nearby semps...

The Sempervivum (or "hen and chicks") don't like the hot, humid summers here at all, but if I can get them past the heat and into winter, these alpine succulents start really perking up:

The colors start changing too, as is typical with many cold-hardy succulents. During warmer times most of these semps look the same, but when the cooler air arrives they start showing their differences.

Are you as entranced by sedum and semps in the cold as I am?

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